Venezuela’s PDVSA fixes second VLCC of Algerian Saharan crude oil: sources

A second cargo of Algeria’s Saharan crude bound for Venezuela has been fixed to load on a VLCC, under a new deal between the two countries’ state-owned companies, PDVSA and Sonatrach, shipping sources said Wednesday.

The Venezuelan refiner has fully fixed the Boston vessel to carry a 270,000 mt crude cargo from Algeria to Venezuela, with loading expected to commence on October 25, according to sources.

This is the second VLCC carrying Saharan crude to head to Venezuela this month, after the Carabobo loaded a cargo from Bejaia on October 11.

“This is an exotic new trade flow,” said a shipbroker.

PDVSA has opted for a different approach this time, however, chartering the Boston VLCC from another owner, Dynacom Tankers Management, having opted to use the PDVSA-controlled Carabobo VLCC for the first shipment.

Early last month, industry sources said that PDVSA was looking to bring Saharan from Algeria to use both as a diluent for its heavy crude production in the Orinoco Belt and as a feedstock to restart the shuttered lubricants plant at the Curacao refinery.

Saharan Blend is a light sweet, naphtha- and kerosene- rich crude grade produced from a variety of oil fields in southern Algeria. It is used by end-users in Europe and Asia both alone and to blend with heavier, more sulfuric sour crude grades.

Crude extracted from the Orinoco Belt has a gravity of around 8.5 API and is highly acidic with a high metals content, making it difficult to export without first diluting it with naphtha.

No details have been made public on the agreement between PDVSA and Sonatrach, and the volume of Saharan crude likely to go Venezuela each month is unclear but the flow is expected to be regular or semi-regular, market sources said.

Additionally, PDVSA is also taking at least one cargo of Russia’s medium sour Urals crude in October, a flow that is also expected to become more regular in the future.

The shipments of Saharan crude are expected to become the first regular crude imports by PDVSA since the company was founded in the mid-1970s.

Platts ship-tracking software cFlow shows the Boston tanker to be currently moored at Agioi Theodoroi in Greece.
Source: Platts